Are These Peppers Toast, Or Changing Color?

obchiliJune 18, 2014

As a first year grower, I will ask this. Do these peppers look like they are toast, or are they on their way to ripening? Sorry for the stupid question, but these are the first ones changing color for me. Thank you.

The plant was good the other day, then the next day it looked like this. I do not know what happened. The other 2 that were nearby are doing fine still. Also, the pepper in question is called : East Indian / Bird Pepper (on the tag)

The plant on the other hand may be toast. It appears as if it was severely under watered for a period of time. From the look of the soil I'd say you watered it very recently after the wilting. I've seen plants come back from worse, and if it was an under watering issue - then it may pull through still... If something else, it's up in the air.

Actually, I had watered it as I did the others. And yes, it looks like it was just watered, cause I had just given it a little drink of 1/3 strength fertilizer just before the picture. Thanks for the help. I am in no rush to get rid of it, so I will let it live where it is, and hope for the best.

Yes, pot has drainage, many holes in bottom, as for soil, topsoil/steer manure mix. Yes, several days of rain prior, and as I just got home now, it had endured another long bout of heavy rain as well. It was nicer earlier, but changed between time I left and returned. Thank you.

As I suspected.
Number one: Your potting mix (Topsoil + manure ) is the main problem. It can get compacted and not providing a good drainage.
For potting , the standard is soil-less medium (aka potting soil) . Many friends here use 5-1-1 mix , fafard , Pro mix and similar. I use 5-1-1. It is a home made potting soil.
I don't know how you can go about replacing the medium. I am sure others will chime in and make recommendations.

Looks like a goner, but I wouldn't give up. I'd pull it out and put it in a pot with a couple inches of drainage material on the bottom of the pot -- rocks, plastic, marbles -- and put it in a soil-less mix that drains well. Like Fafard 3B or the 5-1-1 that everyone here loves.
I don't know what I'm talking about, though. That is just what I'd do. :)

I was expecting someone to address the potting soil issue. You finally did.
Obchili, did not over water his plants, the rain did.
The over saturated soil dos no let any air/oxygen in for the root system. In short term this situation can cause stress and when it is prolonged can be fatal. That is why, soil has to have adequate drainage property. This issue becomes acute in container when topsoil/garden soil is used. Because the soil is contained within the walls of container it will have a tendency to become compacted.
JMO

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I was going to ask this eventually. My solo cups had epsoma seed starting mix. I noted that some cups felt a lot heavier than others, which possibly suggests compacting. That plus overwatering is of course death.

Do you think my seed starting mix was part of my problem? What would you suggest for soilless medium next spring in the solo cups?

First of all, do not put a drainage layer at the bottom of the pot...it actually impedes drainage and raises the layer of saturated mix.

Seysonn, the reason I didn't mention the potting mix is because I don't think the plant is worth saving. It's already lost too much growth potential, and returns are likely to be very low (for the energy involved in re-potting).

Yeah, probably a goner. But obchili should follow through in order to learn.

ob, pop that plant out of its pot and inspect the soil and the roots. I bet root mass is terrible. It was probably okay at one point, then the rain drowned the roots. Bet the soil is also so soggy that you can literally ring it out.

You could up-pot into a new mix (even MG or similar) replacing a goodly portion of its current soil. Then protect it from the rain as much as possible and let it try to recover.